FY2024 EPS Estimates for Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Raised by William Blair

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) – Stock analysts at William Blair upped their FY2024 EPS estimates for Acuity Brands in a research note issued on Wednesday, September 25th. William Blair analyst R. Merkel now forecasts that the electronics maker will post earnings of $14.36 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $14.14. The consensus estimate for Acuity Brands’ current full-year earnings is $14.26 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Acuity Brands’ Q4 2024 earnings at $3.95 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $286.25.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI stock opened at $270.00 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.95, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Acuity Brands has a 12-month low of $156.84 and a 12-month high of $275.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $248.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.07.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $968.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $996.52 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.50 earnings per share.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AYI. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 38.1% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 51,890 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $13,913,000 after buying an additional 14,329 shares in the last quarter. Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $737,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 148.4% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 2,627 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $6,965,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 42,027 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $11,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,474 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.88%.

About Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting, lighting controls, building management system, location-aware applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL); and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). The ABL segment provides commercial, architectural, and specialty lighting solutions, as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under the A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions, and Sensor Switch.